Dracula is a story written by Bram Stoker about a woman and a small number of men commanded by Professor Abraham Van Helsing who oppose Count Dracula. Count Dracula arrives from Transylvania to London to transform humans into "foul monsters of the night like him, without heart or conscience, preying on the bodies and souls of those (they) love most" (p. 223). In the short narrative, the author employs the epistolary format (Belford 23). Nowadays, Dracula is one of the most beloved epistolary works, created in the eighteenth century yet reflecting current societal issues. Literary the term epistolary stories represent novels written from various sources documents such as newspaper clippings, letters, and journals (Waller 15). Bram Stoker achieves the effects of using the epistolary style in conveying the characters inner states through different story setups and broad descriptions that develops the conscious self and the context (Cranny-Francis 1998). The paper will conduct a literary analysis of the novel Dracula to derive the relevance of the current situation.
In the novel, Bran Stoker’s delivers the thoughts and emotions of main characters using fragmentary narratives to create a picturesque imagination to the reader. Alternatively, the epistolary format gives the story tension, sense of suspense and terror when the story alludes to immense powers of Dracula and the insecure future of the characters (Stevenson 45). The stylistics devices do affect not only the main characters but also the thirds parties who seem to be irrelevant in some capacities (McNally 19). The transition of stories from Mina Murray’s letter to Jonathan Harker’s journal speeds the anxiety to know how Jonathan escapes death from Dracula castles.
Bram Stoker’s Dracula brings back the idea of vampires that was popular in the traditional folklore. In facts, the adaptation of the vampires in the storylines leads to the development of the symbolically sexualized characters. Despite the assumptions that Dracula is related to the extensive gothic literature, it has been proven the only 1897 novel with the timeless setting in it. Nevertheless, focusing superficially on the texts, you will discover that the new beliefs override the previous controversial issues of fears. By the matter of the facts, only the female characters are fearful because of the homosexuality and rape (Belford 25). In connection with the Victorian Era when the novel was written, where the female characters were subjects to sexual torture, I can quickly reflect on the backgrounds of gender inversion and homosexuality exhibited by Bram Stoker. Overall, Dracula becomes the best horror novel written in the fifteenth century inspired by horror stories.
Bram Stoker’s Dracula is a story that narrates the association between a woman and a small group of men led by Professor Abraham Van Helsing that counteracts with Count Dracula. The Count Dracula travels from Transylvania to England to change human beings into something they refer to as, “foul things of the night like him, without heart or conscience, preying on the bodies and the souls of these (they) love best” (p. 223). The author utilizes the epistolary format in the short story (Cranny-Francis 38). Today, Dracula is the most loved epistolary works written in the nineteenth century but representing the current situations in the society. Literary the term epistolary stories represent novels written from various sources documents such as newspaper clippings, letters, and journals (McNally 18). Bram Stoker achieves the effects of using the epistolary style in conveying the characters inner states through different story setups and broad descriptions that develop the conscious self and the context (Cranny-Francis 64).
The author utilizes Mina to explain the opinion about the recommendable category of woman during Victorian Era. For example, Professor Van Helsing illustrates Mina in the story as, “One of God’s women, fashioned by His hand to show us, men and other women, that there is a heaven where we can enter, and that its light can be here on earth. So true, so sweet, so noble, so little an egoistic!” (Stoker 306). Mina Murray takes the position of central characters since we come across many diaries entries than anyone else. Mina is brave and courageous as she goes into dangerous places during the night to save friend Lucy. Again, she is consistent and persistent in her doings as she refuses to give up on the hard mission of killing Dracula (Cranny-Francis 67). Ultimately, Mina exhibits herself as a hardworking and determined woman since she types all the journals and the diaries from different people for the public to find them in one place. Finally, shows her loyalty and intelligence to her husband. Bram Stoker uses speech in the novel to stress on Mina’s dedication to education and hardworking. She even assists her husband Jonathon in his studies by taking some shorthand commitments after practicing fulltime to “be useful to Jonathan” (Stoker 86). From her monologue, “a brave man’s hand can speak for itself” (Stoker 386) tells us that she is worried about men and their independence from women.
On the second category of Victorian women, Stoker uses Lucy to shows the readers what women should not be in the society. Throughout the novel, Lucy is not committed to one man either emotionally or physically. The author describes her as beautiful, voluptuous woman who receives three proposals from suitors simultaneously. In fact, she complains to Mina asking why the society cannot allow a woman to marry four or several men as she would wish and prevent all the drama (Stoker 96). Despite the fact that she can do such if permitted, she realizes that she has uttered words from hearsay. The latter implies that even though the ideas and thoughts may be verbally immoral, forbidden and promiscuous in the ancient culture, it is not the way to prevent her from surpassing the lines with social conventions to chase for personal satisfaction.
Dracula takes into account the first person point of view of characters in illustrating the information form letters, journals, and diaries. In rare occasions, do you find the third party point of view written in the newspaper articles (Stevenson 30)? Suppose the novel was written straightforwardly with one person’s point of view, the reader would have found it difficult in distinguishing the stories as they unfold chronologically. Moreover, more information would have been hidden within the characters (McNally 28). Consequently, the story would e more suspenseful.
In the analysis of characters, Mina Murray takes the position of central characters since we come across many diaries entries than anyone else. Mina is brave and courageous as she goes into dangerous places during the night to save friend Lucy. Again, she is consistent and persistent in her doings as she refuses to give up on the hard mission of killing Dracula (Cranny-Francis 57). Ultimately, Mina exhibits herself as a hardworking and determined woman since she types all the journals and the diaries from different people for the public to find them in one place. Finally, shows her loyalty and intelligence to her husband.
On the contrary, Professor Van Helsing is among the critical minor characters that supplement the theme of fear and suspense. The text portrays Van Helsing as an intelligent man, and he does various studies across the world. Besides, he singlehandedly investigates the case of the suffering of Lucy terming is as garlic around her neck. In the upshot, Helsing is a determined and resourceful person because he injects new helpful ideas to solve problems (Belford 45). Lastly, he is too loyal to Lucy making him travel all the way to London to discover what is happening with her.
Additionally, Dracula is a being with supernatural powers. In particular, he is portrayed to be having supernatural strength. According to Van Helsing, Dracula is equivalent to twenty strong men. He has the ability to command animals such as rats, foxes and wolves. Although he has the knack to summon these animals, his powers on them are limited. This is illustrated in the scenario where he called upon thousands of rats to attack a group of people. Moreover, he is not in a position to prevent the dogs from attacking the rats.
The humans are not able to harm Dracula in some incidences in the novel. This makes Dracula to appear immortal. For instance, a sailor who tried to stab him on the back with a knife was not successful. Surprisingly, the blade of the knife passed through his body without inflicting any injury on him. However, Dracula was not always immune to human attacks. Harker and Morris were able to cause harm to him. Dracula is oscillating between periods when he is susceptible to human attacks and when he is insulated from any harm by the human beings.
The author depicts Dracula as having some extraordinary abilities. He is able to move about without casting shadows at all. Dracula’s reflection could not appear in the mirrors. In addition, he had the powers of defying the rules of the gravity. This is illustrated by the fact that he could be in a position to climb vertical walls and spaces in an upside-down manner. The author states that Dracula had the ability to vanish from sight and then resurface in a different geographical location. The above traits depict Dracula as a being that could do tasks and things that surpassed ordinary man’s abilities.
The book, Dracula illustrates the social and cultural factors that existed at the time when the book was being written. One of the social issues was modernism that would lead to the discarding of the traditions of the British people. Modernity brought a lot of changes and transformations that were a threat to the moral and cultural fabric of the British people. It is against this backdrop that Harker states that,” Unless my senses deceive me, the old centuries had, and have, powers of their own which mere “modernity” cannot kill” (Stokers 321). This shows that modernity brought a lot of transformations that made the British people cast doubts and suspicion on the values and beliefs that they had subscribed to for many centuries.
As mentioned earlier, the novel uses different perspectives to view the situations with subplots and Count in the novel. In the beginning, the novel illustrates the point of view of Jonathan Harker. Jonathan Harker's seems to be a practical and attentive man who pays attention to details. After that, the point of view transitions to the letters written between Lucy Westenra and Mina Harker. The two beautiful women have been friends through thick and thin. Mina always checks on Lucy when she starts to walk in the sleep (McNally 38). In the middle of the letters, the narrator's chips in a news article. From the intervention gotten from Dr, Seward’s, and the journal writings seem to base on facts and the possible solutions. Together with Dr, Seward’s, opinions, Professor Van Helsing incorporates his ideas, and the potential solutions he thinks might salvage the situation (Cranny-Francis 67). These many shifts in point of views cause the whole novel to look messy and disjointed. However, the turns applied make the transitions smooth and not abrupt creating an easy to follow stories.
The book also focuses on the concepts of lust and sex in this conservative British society. The males are portrayed to exhibit dominance and superiority on matters related to sex. According to the book, males were allowed to express their sexual desires unlike their female counterparts. However, the women were expected to refrain from expressing their sexual desires. According to the culture that was in existence at that point in time, women were not expected to suppress their sexual feelings completely (Romona 29). This meant to ensure there was virginity and sexual purity among women before marriage. After marriage, they were expected to maintain high levels of faithfulness to their husbands. Dracula’s action of sucking blood from the women has some sexual significance. According to the novel, Dracula could not attend an event unless he was invited. This means that Lucy must have invited Dracula to her house. This illustrates that she allowed herself to be seduced by Dracula. In addition, promiscuity is frowned upon by the Britain society. Promiscuity leads to contracting diseases such as syphilis and thus serves as a warning to those engaging in risky sexual activities to restraint and practice chastity. The book also indirectly addresses the issue of homosexuality that was a great social and cultural issue during the time the book was written. Dracula act of exchanging blood with a man can be interpreted as a homosexual act (Pektas 20). In this case, the blood is used as a substitute for sexual fluids.
Thematic analysis exposes the concept of Christian Salvation as the main agenda starting from Harker’s journey to Castle Dracula. For examples, the locals make a cross and put a Rosary around Jonathon’s neck. We can also see where Stoker says that the person who follows Christ Salvation will find himself in heaven when the evil will be at bay. Similarly, the other example of Christian Salvation is apparent when Professor Van Helsing is called to save Lucy Westenra from vampire hold. After the arrival of the Count, he starts the strange affair with Lucy where he selects beautiful women and converts them while she sleeps (Stevenson 88). Van Helsing assists Seward in saving Lucy despite the joint efforts he gets from Mina and Dr. Seward. “Together they hunt Lucy down and stake her through the heart. This ends her vampire curse but cannot bring her back from the dead. After this, Jonathan Harker and his wife, Mina joins the others. They decide to kill Dracula,” (Cranny-Francis 98). After the salvation, the cross is kept around just in case Lucy becomes a vampire. In this perspective, Van Helsing tried to save Lucy using Christian beliefs.
On the other hand, Bram Stoker exhibits the theme of humanity versus the beast through the novel. There is a complex idea of sexual erotica and the understanding of sexual beings. It is clear that the novel does not condemn the threat of homoerotic desire. Instead, they only displace and diffuse it across the world. As witnessed in the transfusion of blood, the male counterparts just come into contacts with one another through women (Belford 22). Therefore, the Dracula uses her tactics to mutate women into hyper-sexuality beings to harvest the men he wants. The truth is that it is the first beast but applies women to offshoot female vampires that in turn fulfills his desires and will. “My Jackals (will) do my bidding when I want to feed,” he claims (Stoker 360). For this reason, many readers and researcher have deduced that sharing of blood, sucking and biting in Dracula is purely sexual and reproductive actions.
Conclusion
In summary, the analysis of Bram Stoker’s Dracula enlightens on various novel writing styles. For instance, the author uses much of epistolary and shifts to give a detailed point of views to issues and the possible solutions. Alternatively, Dracula has enabled groups and understand the lifestyle and culture during the 15th century. Moreover, the book gives insights into the meaning of actual closing events. As mentioned earlier, Dracula strives to define, illustrate, explore and manipulate the essence of sexual beings with duality. The construction of the ancient societies has considered women inferior to the men in the assignment of duties and responsibilities with exception to rising of children. The difference was seen in the submissiveness of women and the protective qualities of women. Stoker further explains the two different kinds of women people have in the community.
Work Cited
Belford, Barbara. Bram Stoker and the man who was Dracula. Da Capo Press, 2002.
Cranny-Francis, Anne. "Sexual Politics and Political Repression in Bram Stoker’s Dracula." Nineteenth-Century Suspense. Palgrave Macmillan, London, 1988. 64-79.
McNally, Raymond T. Dracula was a woman: in search of the blood countess of Transylvania. McGraw-Hill Companies, 1983.
Stevenson, John Allen. "A vampire in the mirror: The sexuality of Dracula." Publications of the Modern Language Association of America (1988): 139-149.
Waller, Gregory A. The living and the undead: From stoker's Dracula to Romero's dawn of the dead. Urbana and Chicago, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1986.
Pektas, Nilifer. "The importance of blood during the Victorian era.: Blood as a sexual signifier in Bram Stoker's Dracula." (2005).
